Giantbomb gone off (like rotten eggs).

Rambling Bombcast and Sleepy Brad are some of my favorite things.

January is a-typically full of tumbleweeds which bleeds into February. Any glimmer of anything tends to showcase itself in a more pronounced light. This past week was a fine example of the team being recharged by new, exciting games to play.

Then wouldn't this be the time for more Encyclopedia Bombastica and old content like that? Seems an apt solution.

Jeff's been going to Dice and other stuff, right? Plus apparently taking meetings trying to get someone to give them the go ahead to staff up. Vinny and Brad have been Souls'ing it up pretty heavily for a month. Patrick's been Spelunking like a motherfucker. There've been changes to the site, and changes to things outside the site that also affect the site, like Twitch, and they've also still put up a fair number of the usual things like quick looks (plus the new Unfinished feature), UPF (like it or not, I mostly like it and vastly prefer it to TNT or the Happy Hour), Worth Playing, Bombing in the AM, the bombcast, and even the formerly Daily Dota has made a few recent appearances. Plus random shit like the puppy stream. And Alex is still reviewing shit for some reason (I for one, could do without written reviews ever again). Plus whatever the fuck they're doing when they aren't sitting in front of a camera speaking into microphones, which I am fairly sure is more than rolling around in piles of subscriber money (cuz if it is they should film that shit).

So it seems to me they're already doing plenty. *shrugs

Jeff's been going to Dice and other stuff, right? Plus apparently taking meetings trying to get someone to give them the go ahead to staff up. Vinny and Brad have been Souls'ing it up pretty heavily for a month. Patrick's been Spelunking like a motherfucker. There've been changes to the site, and changes to things outside the site that also affect the site, like Twitch, and they've also still put up a fair number of the usual things like quick looks (plus the new Unfinished feature), UPF (like it or not, I mostly like it and vastly prefer it to TNT or the Happy Hour), Worth Playing, Bombing in the AM, the bombcast, and even the formerly Daily Dota has made a few recent appearances. Plus random shit like the puppy stream. And Alex is still reviewing shit for some reason (I for one, could do without written reviews ever again). Plus whatever the fuck they're doing when they aren't sitting in front of a camera speaking into microphones, which I am fairly sure is more than rolling around in piles of subscriber money (cuz if it is they should film that shit).

So it seems to me they're already doing plenty. *shrugs

I am not trolling when I say that it is my feeling that Giantbomb.com as a gaming website has got worse to the point when I don't know why I bother with the content anymore (and makes me want to write a forum post like this one).

As a paid member I see no reason to renew my subscription as I can't help but thing how lazy the team are. I am not putting it down do another "quite gaming period" because content for a gaming site doesn't always have to come from new games and quick looks for them. I just believe that they do very little in a week and haven't really offered anything fresh for months if not years.

I am sure to get cut down in the comments if anyone is that bothered but I doubt I will be that interested in reading views on how I am wrong. As I said before, I am not trolling, I am giving an honest opinion about the state of the website.

There used to be a day when I thought "great, a 3 hour podcast, why are Giantbomb the only ones who have a long podcast when everyone else barley passes the hour mark?". Not any more. I find it has got stale with the 40+minutes of ramblings that often have nothing to do with games. Its not entertaining and maybe it would be best for them to do an hour podcast with more structure. Again, that would probably mean more effort and all I see with the Giantbomb team are a bunch of guys who turn on the microphone and say whatever. No prep. No structure. Just a bloated mess with the odd bit of interesting information.

It's not like I don't like the team but every week when it comes round to Brad to update on what he's been doing or what he's been playing, he almost always comes across with a tired, bored, disinterested response, almost reluctant in his delivery as if he wasn't getting paid for his time or like he has been put on the spot so has very little to contribute. A lot of puffing and saying you didn't play anything or leave the house is not riveting. Maybe it would be a good Idea for the team to look at interesting articles, games, or ideas and make more of an effort to breath some life into the bloated old Bombcast.

I feel the same way about Drew. It seems after Ryan, Drew got in on Podcasts and again, I have nothing against him but he seems to always be talking about sport or some sort of running, gym or training exercise he did at the weekend. For me, he might as well tell me about how long he spent in the toilet and how many flushes there was. Dull. Give him credit, he does try to sound as big and as loud as some of the other guys but it just sounds forced.

The main reason I come here is for Jeff''s views and knowledge and usually when the 40+ minutes of talking food and other nonsense is over on the Bombcast, I often find some interesting stuff in what he says about games he's currently playing or games he has seen in demo etc. He is very knowledgeable and his Jar time videos can sometimes be one of the better things about the site although they are few and far between. I think he too could cut back on all the nonsense though as when he starts it just seems to spur the rest on until someone defuses the filler after a good half hour.

Another part of the site that really bothers me is the Unprofessional Fridays as it seems to be the most mundane show they could make. I have enjoyed watching them play games on the sofa for years and there is potential for some great content but every time I stay up late to watch Unprofessional Fridays (Kick off is usually 11.30pm in the UK) it is filled with the worst 'games' and a dull half hour is almost a given.

In the last few times I have watched it there seems to be no end to the extensive browser based games or that one which was basically moving the keys to highlight numbers that were supposed to represent characters in a RPG where all the battles are via the text meaning boredom for most people watching. There are to many crappy so called games that take up that show that I don't bother to stay up and might flick through the next day to see what they played. That usually ends up being a disappointment too as there will be a ton of games with the likes of Drew moving a mouse over a graph or speedometer or clicking and enabling buttons for some program he found online. Boring.

I know there was a show called Thursday Night Throw Down which had many 'normal' gaming moments. Whatever happened to that? too much effort is it?

I'm sure people would rather see games they have already played (Mortal Kombat, Burnout, Tony Hawk, etc) than much of what you get every Friday. Why don't they ever get the N64 out for some local multiplayer? That's just an example. Why don't they bring a game that they are enjoying at home and play a bit on the show and show people where they are and how they are liking it?

Also as I see it, Giantbomb is not every good or up today on the news front either. I just begin to wonder what they do all day. What is a typical day for the Giantbomb team. I can only assume that it is taking things at a very leisurely pace like you would see when they used to bother making those phone recorded I love Monday videos. Remember that? Remember how they'd rack there brains for content for the week? "I guess we could do something with that...maybe?" Don't sound so sure Giantbomb staff.

So just to end and repeat, this is not an attempt to be a big dirty troll, this is just a view from someone who has lost patience with this place I used to like. You may disagree with me but be honest, could these guys not be doing a better job of things especially as there are many loyal users who have paid money to help them keep doing (or maybe that should read NOT DOING) what they are doing?

Its not a valid argument to say the site is the way it is right now because there is a lack of new games, there are thousands of games that they could look back on and features they could write, film, introduce. The fact is that it doesn't suit the Giantbomb team to write a proper article or put in some more effort to take the site forward. They can sit around and talk for hours, not much else goes on.

Sorry if you feel offended. I have been 110% honest. Giantbomb.com needs to change. I can't ever see myself paying another penny towards the upkeep of this site if there is not a drastic change in how they go about things.

Thanks for reading.

@video_game_king:

Hey, it's another one of these threads!

I know. I've had real trouble distinguishing these two.

I'll add my voice to the opposite; I like written reviews because they are one of the rare times when anyone on the crew talks about games entirely based on their merits. Patrick writes his articles, but they're more often about the industry or his thoughts on the community (there is the odd article about a game, but it's often about how it will influence the direction of the medium rather than the synergy of the mechanics or the content).

Granted there's not a lot of them and it appears 2014 Is Alex (much like how Raw Is Alex), but I read every written review and I refer to them when I have discussions about games.

4 Months ago I would have maybe said I understand but they are still trying to recover from losing a Front runner of the site, and the last few months have been awesome for premium content so, nope.

Also love that your "solution" to "fixing" the bombcast is to make it like Every Single other podcast that I don't listen to.

First, I dont want to say your wrong, Let me go through and try and figure out how to 'fix' this.

1a. The podcasts are too long. The podcast format hasnt changed, except for a cast member or too leaving. I think this may just be a change of intrests on your part.

1b. The podcasts are uninstresting, and lack direction. I somewhat agree. But again, i am a diffrent person then i was even a year ago, i have less time to listen to podcasts.

1c. The complaints about Drew, Brad and Jeff just sound like you need to take a break from listening to them. Like when you have too much peanut butter, it tastes great, but then your stumch hurts, and you feal sick. Dont kill your love for the site by being on it 24/7

2a. I agree some of the latest UPF have been lack luster, and I dont want to make the excuse that 'it will get better'.

2b. I do disagree with this though. while I agree that it dose get slow, and they should find another way to fill in a bad game, perhaps with a back up game. I disagree that I want to play old games that I have played over and over again. One of the reasons I like UPF is that I get to see that dumb Wrestling game, or that Barbarion game. I do feel like there is an HR person looking over the camera just itching to wave her/his hands and tell them to shut up, or what not to say.

2c. Thursday Night Throwdown was a feature created, and hosted by Ryan Davis, who passed away. You can read the article pinned at the top of the forum.

3. Someone did a chart a month or two back which outlined how much content was actualy generated every year. And it showed that it was increasing every year, not in the ammount, but in the length.

How do you think the site will change with this thread?